I have the feeling I may end up saying nothing in what I write today, because I have to much to say, and so little time. Here goes . . .
We´ve started our training. It´s been pretty intense: 9am-5pm every day since Tuesday, and we´ve had lectures and workshops all about the neurological bases of learning. All in Portuguese. Put that together with lack of sleep, looking for a new place to live, learning how to take the bus and you´ll understand that we´re pretty exhausted. I´m totally impressed by the school atmosphere, though. It´s so much more than I was expecting. The other teachers are so positive, it´s an environment I´m looking forward to working. It looks like I´ll be teaching grade 2 this year, as an assistant teacher, and Jess will be doing grade 3 half the day, and other repsonsibilities the second half of the day.
Yesterday we hit our low. Being immersed in technical Portuguese had tired us out, and then we were supposed to have prepared a two-minute presentation on some aspect of the lectures to be evaluated by the other teachers on our presentation skills. Well, it´s one thing to be able to understand when the lectures go by. It´s another thing to retain the information to be able to speak it back. We had no access to materials to do research (we get home too late every night to be able to go out to use the internet). So we had nothing ready to say. And we felt sick all day. It´s incredible how quickly you revert to childish ways when you become a student again. We were DREADING the presentation all day long, and on our walk back after lunch Jess started making jokes about finding a fire alarm to pull. As three o´clock drew near, we seriously considered getting up and leaving (because technically our attendance is mandatory). I have to give Jess the credit for being the strong one to keep us from leaving. Anyhow, we did what we had to do. We just said we didn´t have a presentation and observed the others in our small groups. And thankfully, in my group I wasn´t the only one, and on top of that, everyone was really understanding. It was such a relief.
Anyways, after all the accumulated stress, we went home and did all things Canadian: ate maple fudge, made banana pancakes for supper, made ourselves mugs of raspberry tea from home, and crawled into bed early and watched part of Pride and Prejudice. It was a good end to the day :)
Today we´ve been invited over to one of the other teacher´s houses for dinner. She´s Canadian but she´s married to a Brazilian and has been here for 7 years. She´s a fantastic person, and we´re planning on bombarding her with all kinds of questions about how to access the things we need here in Sao Jose. Should be lots of fun.
Well, I´ve got tons to say, and only 1 minute and 30 seconds left. If you wrote me an email and I haven´t repsonded, it´s because I can´t get into hotmail for some reason. It´s driving me curiously crazy because I can see I have 6 messages and can´t read any of them. So I´ll write back when I read them. Bye for now!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Pictures from Our Place
Here´s what home looks like for us for the next little while. The house we´re in is an apartment above a bakery/corner store. We live with a lady and her two young sons (age 7 and 9), and I think her sister lives there too, but I´m not certain about that. She´s really nice, and the kids are cute and fun to talk to. The house is in a busy neighbourhood, and every time I look out onto the balcony all I can think of is, this is classic Brasil. There are bare-footed kids playing soccer in the street and flying kites that have the strings wrapped around old cans (and they don´t seem to worry about the fact that there are telephone wires everywhere). People sitting on the curb chatting. Bikes, buses, cars, busyness everywhere. As you walk up the street you can get access to pretty much everything you might need in day-to-day life - butcher, baker, candlestick maker :)
I kind of knew when we arrived that it wasn´t going to be the best location to go to bed early. The noise from the street at night is loud enough that it´s impossible to sleep without earplugs, although things seem to settle down before midnight. There wasn´t a working light bulb in our room when we first arrived, so once the sun went down we didn´t have a whole lot to do and so we tried to sleep early. It didn´t really work.
I´m so thankful for all the life-experiences we´ve had up until now, because it´s making the settling in process so much easier. I can´t imagine being here and not knowing Portuguese, or never having lived away from home, or never having had to live with other people, or never having been in Africa. Things are cozy already. We thought about moving the beds around so that we could have a bit more personal space, but then we realized that we both felt sad changing it!
Our place after unpacking. It feels much roomier now that the suitcases are off the ground. Jess took the picture standing in the very corner of the room, just so you get an idea of the size of the room.
Here´s the view from our balcony, up one end of our street. You can see the door from our room behind Jessica´s shoulder. The sign at the right is for the bakery below us.
Here I am with the view up the other end of our street.
Not that much is happening right now. We´ve gone grocery shopping (which made me both excited and sad all at once - both feelings eminating from the fact this was for REAL and not for fun.) It´s kind of fun to grow up, and kind of sad. The Lord has been so sweet since we arrived. He seems to be in so many places, speaking, teaching, and opening our eyes and our hearts to see more of who He is. He is so beautiful. Here´s a quote I got from a book I bought in Boston just before coming, which seems very appropriate for now:
In the One you are never alone.
In the One you are always at home.
Dag Hammarskjold
I kind of knew when we arrived that it wasn´t going to be the best location to go to bed early. The noise from the street at night is loud enough that it´s impossible to sleep without earplugs, although things seem to settle down before midnight. There wasn´t a working light bulb in our room when we first arrived, so once the sun went down we didn´t have a whole lot to do and so we tried to sleep early. It didn´t really work.
I´m so thankful for all the life-experiences we´ve had up until now, because it´s making the settling in process so much easier. I can´t imagine being here and not knowing Portuguese, or never having lived away from home, or never having had to live with other people, or never having been in Africa. Things are cozy already. We thought about moving the beds around so that we could have a bit more personal space, but then we realized that we both felt sad changing it!
Our place after unpacking. It feels much roomier now that the suitcases are off the ground. Jess took the picture standing in the very corner of the room, just so you get an idea of the size of the room.
Here´s the view from our balcony, up one end of our street. You can see the door from our room behind Jessica´s shoulder. The sign at the right is for the bakery below us.
Here I am with the view up the other end of our street.
Not that much is happening right now. We´ve gone grocery shopping (which made me both excited and sad all at once - both feelings eminating from the fact this was for REAL and not for fun.) It´s kind of fun to grow up, and kind of sad. The Lord has been so sweet since we arrived. He seems to be in so many places, speaking, teaching, and opening our eyes and our hearts to see more of who He is. He is so beautiful. Here´s a quote I got from a book I bought in Boston just before coming, which seems very appropriate for now:
In the One you are never alone.
In the One you are always at home.
Dag Hammarskjold
Thursday, January 15, 2009
We´re Here . . . For Now
This is going to be really quick, but I just wanted to write for the people checking to let you know that Jess and I arrived safely yesterday in Brazil, and we´ve moved into the house (or room, rather) that we´ll be in for the next month. Jess´ precise words after we saw our room were: ``Can the beds get any closer?`` In fact, they can´t.
In order to be able to use the main door, the closet doors, and the balcony doors, the two single beds have to be right beside each other in the centre of the room. We´d been told that they were finding an apartment for us to share, so we were a bit surprised to find out that we´re living in someone else´s house, far, far away from the school we´ll be working at. Anyhow, over lunch we reminded ourselves that everything IS the best that it can be, no matter how it looks to us. And we also took the opportunity (realizing what close quarters we´ll be sharing) to apologize ahead of time for all the things we´ll say and do to hurt each other this next year, and to let each other know that we are already pre-disposed to forgive each other for all the said things that will happen :)
It turns out, however, that the two guys that picked us up from the airport and took us to our place failed to mention that our current lodgings are only temporary. It was only when we went to one of their houses to pick up a new mattress that his mother filled us in on all the details (thank the Lord for moms, even when they aren´t your own!). It looks like they had an furnished apartment arranged for us, one that was near the school, but everything fell through at the last minute and they had to come up with something until they can find a better place.
Okay, I´ve got to run, so I´ll continue later.
In order to be able to use the main door, the closet doors, and the balcony doors, the two single beds have to be right beside each other in the centre of the room. We´d been told that they were finding an apartment for us to share, so we were a bit surprised to find out that we´re living in someone else´s house, far, far away from the school we´ll be working at. Anyhow, over lunch we reminded ourselves that everything IS the best that it can be, no matter how it looks to us. And we also took the opportunity (realizing what close quarters we´ll be sharing) to apologize ahead of time for all the things we´ll say and do to hurt each other this next year, and to let each other know that we are already pre-disposed to forgive each other for all the said things that will happen :)
It turns out, however, that the two guys that picked us up from the airport and took us to our place failed to mention that our current lodgings are only temporary. It was only when we went to one of their houses to pick up a new mattress that his mother filled us in on all the details (thank the Lord for moms, even when they aren´t your own!). It looks like they had an furnished apartment arranged for us, one that was near the school, but everything fell through at the last minute and they had to come up with something until they can find a better place.
Okay, I´ve got to run, so I´ll continue later.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Feeling Like a Tourist . . . at Home
For the many of you who don't know yet, after a sudden change of events, Jess and I are back in Canada. Temporarily, however :)
We discovered at the beginning of the month, while renewing our tourist visas, that the only way to obtain the necessary visa in order to begin our job next month was to leave the country. After researching our options, we realized that we needed to return to Canada, and were just as surprised as all of you to be going home. And now, here we are.
I had already prepared myself to be gone until July, and with that preparation, had all the necessary homesickness in place. So now it feels like a special treat to be here. I'm enjoying absolutely everything. I can appreciate things I never appreciated before. As we drove home from the airport after Jess' dad picked us up, I was admiring how all the trees look without their leaves. Yes, dead-looking winter trees are indeed a thing of beauty. Silos too. Even the bitter cold is beautiful. It's amazing what being away does for you. I wish I could capture this feeling of appreciation and gratefulness that I have right now, and remember to feel this way every day for the rest of my life. It feels so good to be thankful, for the small details especially.
I'm excited to see what what the Lord has for us when we return to Brazil, but right now I'm especially thankful to be able to enjoy the present. I'm thankful for this selah. Pause, and calmly think of that.
We discovered at the beginning of the month, while renewing our tourist visas, that the only way to obtain the necessary visa in order to begin our job next month was to leave the country. After researching our options, we realized that we needed to return to Canada, and were just as surprised as all of you to be going home. And now, here we are.
I had already prepared myself to be gone until July, and with that preparation, had all the necessary homesickness in place. So now it feels like a special treat to be here. I'm enjoying absolutely everything. I can appreciate things I never appreciated before. As we drove home from the airport after Jess' dad picked us up, I was admiring how all the trees look without their leaves. Yes, dead-looking winter trees are indeed a thing of beauty. Silos too. Even the bitter cold is beautiful. It's amazing what being away does for you. I wish I could capture this feeling of appreciation and gratefulness that I have right now, and remember to feel this way every day for the rest of my life. It feels so good to be thankful, for the small details especially.
I'm excited to see what what the Lord has for us when we return to Brazil, but right now I'm especially thankful to be able to enjoy the present. I'm thankful for this selah. Pause, and calmly think of that.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Adventures in Pirénopolis
Yesterday seven of us headed out to Pirénapolis with a bag full of 18 sandwiches, a bottle of Fanta, various Canadian snacks that Jess and I have managed not to gobble up, and not enough water between us. We spent the day hiking, climbing, swimming in a river, and enjoying the beauty of cascading water. It was the kind of day that makes you want to plan many more similar adventures.
The crew before setting out: Felipe, Vinicius, Márcio, Joy, Jess, Lídia, Thiago
The climbing part: it was steep, and scary when you looked down. We climbed up huge mountains of broken up rock
A picture at the top of the mount. By now we were wishing to see the promised river and waterfalls, but they were still a long time in coming.
After having lunch while seated on large rocks near a picturesque water fall, we had a quick swim and then started making our way down the river. We walked barefoot where we could, put our socks and shoes on when we had to, took them off again each time we needed to cross the river, and kept each other from falling into the current. Here we are in one of our crossings.
The crew before setting out: Felipe, Vinicius, Márcio, Joy, Jess, Lídia, Thiago
The climbing part: it was steep, and scary when you looked down. We climbed up huge mountains of broken up rock
A picture at the top of the mount. By now we were wishing to see the promised river and waterfalls, but they were still a long time in coming.
After having lunch while seated on large rocks near a picturesque water fall, we had a quick swim and then started making our way down the river. We walked barefoot where we could, put our socks and shoes on when we had to, took them off again each time we needed to cross the river, and kept each other from falling into the current. Here we are in one of our crossings.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Certainly Not in Canada
These are many of the things that remind us that we are far away from home (even though the normally unusual is becoming unusually normal as time goes on). Here are a few:
1) Showers - having to justify taking a shower in the morning - here showers are most often for the afternoon or evening. I tried, but I just end up feeling gross all day.
2) Salt and . . . toothpicks (as opposed to pepper) on the table
3) Blistering heat in November/December - the weather makes it very difficult to remember the month, that's for sure.
4) Shoes - fighting the feeling of wanting to remove my shoes after entering people's houses (somehow I haven't adjusted to that completely)
5) No cheddar cheese - it's been almost three months already! They have something they call cheddar cheese, but Jess and I discovered early on that what they really mean is cheese whiz. Not even close to the real thing.
6) Portugized English:
"A gente might have to sair soon"
"Is the key with you?"
7) Seatbelts - explaining to people that I wear a seatbelt even when I'm riding in the back seat because it's the law back home.
8) The absence of brown sugar. Haven't seen any since we've arrived. They've got something called mascavo, which is a dark sugar but powdery, and thick granuled white sugar, but no brown. I would never have imagined. It makes for experimentation when baking (which is right up Jess' alley).
9) It now feels wrong to put the toilet paper in the toilet, even when I can.
10) House plants growing outdoors - the most spectaclar so far was an enormous Ficus benjamina tree.
11) Computer keyboards - you have to learn to type differently or else you end up getting accents instead of apostrophes.
12) Common cutlery - steak knives are considerably more abundant than butter knives.
13) The News - a lot more blood and guts and gore up close than I ever remember seeing back home. We hear about it in Canada, but more often than not I find I actually see it here.
14) The price of Hagen Daaz ice cream - it's already considerably more expensive than other ice creams back home at $6 for 500mL, but here it goes for $9!
15) Maids/housekeepers - it's a respectable job and extremely common to have one here, but I just can't help feeling guilty about having someone hired to clean up after me.
16) Milk - most people use the kind that comes in cartons that don't need to be refrigerated until you open them - Ultra Heat Treated.
17) Gas stations - they're always full serve, and the attendants are often dressed up with blouses that are tucked into their matching pants, wearing a tie, or a little scarf, and waving the cars into their spots like planes coming in from landing.
18) The meal that comes after lunch - it can either be lanche, which consists of something light such as a sandwich and something to drink, or janta, which is a full meal. Or you can do both. This/these meal(s) take place anytime from about 6pm until midnight, and it never seems to be the same thing two days in a row. I've learned just to go with the flow, but truthfully I find it very confusing never knowing if I'm eating for the last time or not . . .
19) It being okay to give people nicknames based on their race, skin colour, body size/shape - we are often shocked. I'll leave it at that.
20) Noise - there are a lot more hard surfaces, a lot more tile, and a lot less insulation in buildings here than back home, which leads to lots of echo. I get auditory overload quite easily when there's a large group of people. At times I wish I could invent an ear funnel to siphon out the things I want to listen to in all of the noisy chaos.
1) Showers - having to justify taking a shower in the morning - here showers are most often for the afternoon or evening. I tried, but I just end up feeling gross all day.
2) Salt and . . . toothpicks (as opposed to pepper) on the table
3) Blistering heat in November/December - the weather makes it very difficult to remember the month, that's for sure.
4) Shoes - fighting the feeling of wanting to remove my shoes after entering people's houses (somehow I haven't adjusted to that completely)
5) No cheddar cheese - it's been almost three months already! They have something they call cheddar cheese, but Jess and I discovered early on that what they really mean is cheese whiz. Not even close to the real thing.
6) Portugized English:
"A gente might have to sair soon"
"Is the key with you?"
7) Seatbelts - explaining to people that I wear a seatbelt even when I'm riding in the back seat because it's the law back home.
8) The absence of brown sugar. Haven't seen any since we've arrived. They've got something called mascavo, which is a dark sugar but powdery, and thick granuled white sugar, but no brown. I would never have imagined. It makes for experimentation when baking (which is right up Jess' alley).
9) It now feels wrong to put the toilet paper in the toilet, even when I can.
10) House plants growing outdoors - the most spectaclar so far was an enormous Ficus benjamina tree.
11) Computer keyboards - you have to learn to type differently or else you end up getting accents instead of apostrophes.
12) Common cutlery - steak knives are considerably more abundant than butter knives.
13) The News - a lot more blood and guts and gore up close than I ever remember seeing back home. We hear about it in Canada, but more often than not I find I actually see it here.
14) The price of Hagen Daaz ice cream - it's already considerably more expensive than other ice creams back home at $6 for 500mL, but here it goes for $9!
15) Maids/housekeepers - it's a respectable job and extremely common to have one here, but I just can't help feeling guilty about having someone hired to clean up after me.
16) Milk - most people use the kind that comes in cartons that don't need to be refrigerated until you open them - Ultra Heat Treated.
17) Gas stations - they're always full serve, and the attendants are often dressed up with blouses that are tucked into their matching pants, wearing a tie, or a little scarf, and waving the cars into their spots like planes coming in from landing.
18) The meal that comes after lunch - it can either be lanche, which consists of something light such as a sandwich and something to drink, or janta, which is a full meal. Or you can do both. This/these meal(s) take place anytime from about 6pm until midnight, and it never seems to be the same thing two days in a row. I've learned just to go with the flow, but truthfully I find it very confusing never knowing if I'm eating for the last time or not . . .
19) It being okay to give people nicknames based on their race, skin colour, body size/shape - we are often shocked. I'll leave it at that.
20) Noise - there are a lot more hard surfaces, a lot more tile, and a lot less insulation in buildings here than back home, which leads to lots of echo. I get auditory overload quite easily when there's a large group of people. At times I wish I could invent an ear funnel to siphon out the things I want to listen to in all of the noisy chaos.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Figaro, figaro
I´m excited because right now I have both time, and that inner motivation to write. The two things don´t always occur simultaneously, so it makes me happy when they do! We´re at Francy Anne´s house in Aguas Claras (a satellite city near Brasilia), and everyone is napping this afternoon, but I can´t sleep even though I´m tired so here goes . . .
The title of today´s post is in reference to my first-ever opera. On Friday evening Francy Anne told us that Angelica had a friend who studies music at UNB (one of the main universities in Brasilia) and that they were putting on an opera for free . . . so a bunch of us went and it was great! It was the students´ culmination of a semester´s worth of work: The Barber of Seville. I have no knowledge of operas, but it made me want to learn more about them. It would have been nice to have read up about the story before we went. When we got there Jess was like, `´Oh no! It´s going to be in Portuguese and I won´t understand anything! Do you think they´ll have subtitles?`` It turns out they did! The opera was in Italian, and they had two screens on either side of the theatre with the entire script going by on powerpoint slides . . . in Portuguese. We didn´t catch absolutely everything, but we got the main idea for sure. I had the strange sensation of not knowing where I was a few times as the opera went on. We were in a very famliar University theater setting (which made me feel like I could be in North America) watching an Italian opera in Portuguese. Hmmm . . .
Okay, I´ve skipped over about two weeks of life since I haven´t really written about our time since we left Brasilia last. We had a great time in Anapolis at Marcio´s house. And I´m not just saying that because I know you´ll eventually read this Marcio :). Marcio´s Mom and Dad, Fransisco and Guiomar travel a lot, but they don´t stay where they travel to for very long, so we got to meet a lot of people and see a lot of different places in a very short space of time. On our trip to Palmas we also stayed over night in Ceres (with blood relatives) and in Uruacu (with Christian relatives). Upon our return we visited Goiania briefly, and then on our trip back to Francy Anne´s house we stopped in at Gama (the same day that the Brasil vs. Portugal soccer game took place there), Taguatinga and somewhere else that I don´t remember the name of. While we were in Anapolis we basically just had a good time hanging out together - talking, trying to fix the internet connection but making things worse instead, watching movies, playing Uno, having in-depth and non in-depth conversation, eating . . . It´s not just the things we did, though, that were important. It was just being able to spend time together that made it so nice.
So, about our job situation. We´re in the process of officially registering everything and applying for the working visa. I´ll spare you the details beause it´s neither intriguing, nor relevant for most of you. Suffice it to say that I´m trying not to be nervous about having to rely on other people to get everything done by our December 15th deadline. I kind of feel like I´m back in university doing a group project that I would rather do myself, but alas, this is real life. Hey, maybe this is why they make you do those projects after all! Anyhow, we´re waiting for a package to arrive within a couple of weeks and I´m trying to trust the Lord that all the people we have to rely on are doing their parts properly.
Which brings me to my key phrase from life as of late: let go and let Him do it. I´ve come to realize that I am constantly (though sometimes unconciously) struggling to control and direct so many aspects of life. It´s become apparent in very simple situations like the one I described in the last paragraph. I get all tied up in knots when I can´t organize things and make them go the way I´d like them to. And even when I pray and tell the Lord I´m giving things completely into His hands, it´s not long until I realize that though I´ve said the words, the ´fingers´ of my heart are gripping tightly to that very thing I told the Lord was His. But He´s won a victory and I just realized it a couple days ago. It´s been two and a half months since I began to pray for Him to take control of one specific thing (during which time I battled Him all the while), but in the end He´s done it. He´s brought me to the point where I can truly say, `Lord, Your will be done` and let go completely. I can see, looking back, that He´s used the people I´ve been with, the situations I´ve encountered, and a lot of time in order to do something in me that neither I nor any other human being could accomplish. There seem to be a lot of situations lately, not only in my own life but in so many people´s lives who I´m connected to, in which the Lord is using time to get whatever it is that He is after in each of us. Which is why I love to be reminded of my Mom´s line over and over again: it´s a good thing we know that Jesus is Lord.
We´ll be in Brasilia for an indefinite amount of time, and I don´t know where we´ll be going next, since everything depends on everything, as it so often does. We will post more pictures as soon as possible. Sorry we haven´t done it yet!
The title of today´s post is in reference to my first-ever opera. On Friday evening Francy Anne told us that Angelica had a friend who studies music at UNB (one of the main universities in Brasilia) and that they were putting on an opera for free . . . so a bunch of us went and it was great! It was the students´ culmination of a semester´s worth of work: The Barber of Seville. I have no knowledge of operas, but it made me want to learn more about them. It would have been nice to have read up about the story before we went. When we got there Jess was like, `´Oh no! It´s going to be in Portuguese and I won´t understand anything! Do you think they´ll have subtitles?`` It turns out they did! The opera was in Italian, and they had two screens on either side of the theatre with the entire script going by on powerpoint slides . . . in Portuguese. We didn´t catch absolutely everything, but we got the main idea for sure. I had the strange sensation of not knowing where I was a few times as the opera went on. We were in a very famliar University theater setting (which made me feel like I could be in North America) watching an Italian opera in Portuguese. Hmmm . . .
Okay, I´ve skipped over about two weeks of life since I haven´t really written about our time since we left Brasilia last. We had a great time in Anapolis at Marcio´s house. And I´m not just saying that because I know you´ll eventually read this Marcio :). Marcio´s Mom and Dad, Fransisco and Guiomar travel a lot, but they don´t stay where they travel to for very long, so we got to meet a lot of people and see a lot of different places in a very short space of time. On our trip to Palmas we also stayed over night in Ceres (with blood relatives) and in Uruacu (with Christian relatives). Upon our return we visited Goiania briefly, and then on our trip back to Francy Anne´s house we stopped in at Gama (the same day that the Brasil vs. Portugal soccer game took place there), Taguatinga and somewhere else that I don´t remember the name of. While we were in Anapolis we basically just had a good time hanging out together - talking, trying to fix the internet connection but making things worse instead, watching movies, playing Uno, having in-depth and non in-depth conversation, eating . . . It´s not just the things we did, though, that were important. It was just being able to spend time together that made it so nice.
So, about our job situation. We´re in the process of officially registering everything and applying for the working visa. I´ll spare you the details beause it´s neither intriguing, nor relevant for most of you. Suffice it to say that I´m trying not to be nervous about having to rely on other people to get everything done by our December 15th deadline. I kind of feel like I´m back in university doing a group project that I would rather do myself, but alas, this is real life. Hey, maybe this is why they make you do those projects after all! Anyhow, we´re waiting for a package to arrive within a couple of weeks and I´m trying to trust the Lord that all the people we have to rely on are doing their parts properly.
Which brings me to my key phrase from life as of late: let go and let Him do it. I´ve come to realize that I am constantly (though sometimes unconciously) struggling to control and direct so many aspects of life. It´s become apparent in very simple situations like the one I described in the last paragraph. I get all tied up in knots when I can´t organize things and make them go the way I´d like them to. And even when I pray and tell the Lord I´m giving things completely into His hands, it´s not long until I realize that though I´ve said the words, the ´fingers´ of my heart are gripping tightly to that very thing I told the Lord was His. But He´s won a victory and I just realized it a couple days ago. It´s been two and a half months since I began to pray for Him to take control of one specific thing (during which time I battled Him all the while), but in the end He´s done it. He´s brought me to the point where I can truly say, `Lord, Your will be done` and let go completely. I can see, looking back, that He´s used the people I´ve been with, the situations I´ve encountered, and a lot of time in order to do something in me that neither I nor any other human being could accomplish. There seem to be a lot of situations lately, not only in my own life but in so many people´s lives who I´m connected to, in which the Lord is using time to get whatever it is that He is after in each of us. Which is why I love to be reminded of my Mom´s line over and over again: it´s a good thing we know that Jesus is Lord.
We´ll be in Brasilia for an indefinite amount of time, and I don´t know where we´ll be going next, since everything depends on everything, as it so often does. We will post more pictures as soon as possible. Sorry we haven´t done it yet!
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